taheral-taher

Taher Al-Taher

Major Taher Al-Taher was the unluckiest man that night. But he was the
most resourceful one.

Taher Al-Taher had just returned from his annual leave. All he wanted
to do that night was to watch the television with his seven months pregnant
wife. Flying was the last thing on his mind. Then he got that call asking
him to go to the Air Base.

As the four planes left the base, Taher did not think that there would
be a fight. So he went to wash for his dawn prayer. A prayer that he did
not do. When the orders came for the second formation to scramble Taher
realized things are rather tense and that he should take his duties more
seriously. He looked at his plane and there was a young pilot in its cockpit,
a pilot Taher had finished training few months ago. Taher was concerned
about the young man and felt that he should be the one in that cockpit.
He was better trained and that plane had specific problems. So he knocked
on the cockpit, ordered the young pilot to step down and took his place.

As he took off to face the enemy, Taher was shocked by the proximity
of the enemy. They were just four miles away from the base and created
an eminent threat to the base. He could not use his missiles, they did
not have enough time to warm up. Yet Taher could not sit idle and wait
for them to warm up. He had to do something.

He popped his plane high into the sky. Then fell like a rock on that
Iraqi helicopter peppering it with his machine gun. As the helicopter caught
fire Taher pulled his plane up. A very dangerous maneuver to do at night
because he could not see the ground and could have crashed his plane. But
Taher was very skillful with his Mirage, he was a weapons instructor.

Then Taher goes on to down another two planes with his missiles. After
completing his mission Taher requested to land for further deployment.
He was ordered to refuel and go to Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base.

As he approached Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base he had another problem. He
had to land on the side road. The other pilots before him had done that.
But his plane had a problem. The plane brakes were not working. So Taher
had to land his plane on that narrow road with no brakes. But again Taher
was skillful and resourceful. He approached the side road with the bare
minimum speed. As he touched down he raised the nose of his plane as much
as he could and applied the air brakes. He landed safely and took his plane
into one of the shelters.

While the Iraqis were bombing the Air Base Taher never forgot his religious
and family duties. He did his dawn prayer that he did not have time to
do and called his wife asking her to go to her parent’s house. Then waited
for further orders.

As the orders came to go to Saudi Arabia Taher had another problem.
One of the sliding doors of his shelter did not open. It was stuck due
to the sandstorm they had the day before. So they had to bring in a four-wheel
car and push that door open.

But then again there was another problem. The plane engine would not
start. He had already pushed the ignition switch three times. The instructions
were that he should not press it again and should step down from the plane
because pressing it again might cause the accumulated fuel in the combustion
chamber to explode thus destroy the plane and kill its pilot. Taher
put his life in danger and kept on pressing the ignition key. Starting
that engine was the most important thing in the world for Taher that day,
regardless of any risks. Luckily the engine started and Taher flew that
plane to Saudi Arabia.

As Dessert Storm approached Taher had another problem although it was
not as daunting as the ones before. He was a Squadron Leader and their
missions were to bomb Iraqi positions. But non-of his pilots were trained
for bombing missions on the Mirage. It took Taher a very short time to
train them. Usually such training needed thirty-six missions. Taher managed
to get them qualified by flying just two missions. Everybody was eager
to get it right and get into the business of liberating their country.

As the orders came to go on real bombing missions they were all happy
and eager. They rained wrath on the Iraqi aggressors.

Eight months after that dreadful night Taher return home to see his
newborn daughter.